Introduction
Author Shirleene Robinson, in her article, “Inventing Australia for Americans: The rise Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain in the USA”, argues that, the Outback steakhouse chain of restaurants is presenting an outdated and unreal picture of Australia wherever these restaurants are stationed in the world.
According to her, the restaurants thrive by positioning themselves as the ultimate peddlers of an ‘Australian experience’, yet the food served, the owners of the restaurant, the advertisement models, and all other entities related presented as “Australian” in these restaurants are not. Therefore, according to her, Outback Steakhouse is a fraud. However, the author overlooks the fact that all businesses sell ideas, or the role of sound business management and outstanding customer service in maintaining profitable restaurants.
Profit Motive of All Businesses – To Sell an “Idea”
The owners of the Outback steakhouse chain of restaurants are, above anything else, businesspersons keen on profits. The function of any business enterprise is to make profits. Therefore, all actions that the owners of these restaurants take are solely aimed towards maximization of profits.
As such, to expect the Outback steakhouse restaurants to present a realistic and more accurate picture of Australian cuisine, lifestyle and beliefs in the general ambience of these overseas restaurants misses the point. The owners of these restaurants are not cultural ambassadors, and since their interest lies in making profits, all cultural ideas that attract more clients and thus increase profits will be adopted. Whether these cultural representations are realistic, true or accurate is never highly considered by business executives.
The Outback steakhouse chain of restaurants is not the first to purport to offer a customer experience based on myths, or disputable ideas. Indeed, the entire goal of any business enterprise is to sell an idea (Soederberg 506). When the client buys the idea, the veracity of this idea, especially concerning its exact accuracy, is moot.
When McDonald’s and the many fast food restaurants in the western world sell their food and drinks to their clients, they sell an idea as much as they do the food. The idea of freedom, choice, and independence is also packed into these food sales. When an insurance agent tries to convince a client to buy insurance, the agent sells the idea of security to the clients. Therefore, businesses, whether offering goods or services, are inherently selling ideas and beliefs to their clients.
According to the article, the owners of Outback steakhouse restaurants, who are all American, chanced upon the idea of opening up Australian themed restaurants in the US after watching the Australian movie “Crocodile Dundee” gain unprecedented fame in the US and other countries.
The movie, whose main character is Paul Hogan perpetuates the view of the typical Australian male being carefree and intensely masculine, while Australia as a country is depicted as wild, unexplored and welcoming. These images of both Australian males and Australia as a country contributed to its widespread fame as much as the plot, characters and the storyline of the movie did. In this particular case too, the producers of the movie sold an idea.
Therefore, when the founders of the Outback steakhouse embarked on their project of opening up Australian themed restaurants, they wanted to capitalize on the popular image of Australia perpetuated by the movie.
This much the author of the article acknowledges. Therefore, if the original purpose of the owners was to continue a mythical popular idea propagated by the movie “Crocodile Dundee” – and other popular distortions of the masculinity of the Australian male in books such as Australian Legend by Russell Ward – then the blame, if at all anyone is to be blamed, lays beyond these owners.
The Power of Advertisements – Exploiting the Masses’ Ignorance
Secondly, to a certain degree, the owners of the Outback steakhouse are exploring the ignorance and lack of international exposure of American citizens. According to statistics quoted by the author in her article, only 27% of Americans own a passport. Out of these numbers, a much smaller margin may have travelled to Australia, much less lived there long enough to have an idea of what a true “Australian cultural experience” may be.
Therefore, the owners of the Outback steakhouse know well enough that inaccurate representations of Australia within its restaurants in the US and elsewhere are unlikely to come under scrutiny. Even though the US plumes itself as a citadel of liberty and democracy, a closer scrutiny of its citizenry reveals a nation largely guided by what it sees on television and reads in the mainstream press, and is thus largely ignorant.
Many citizens of the US hardly bother with what happens beyond their borders. For instance, the US has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the western world, with only 56% of voters having turned out to vote in the 2004 presidential elections (Niemi and Hanmer 305).
The picture of the US as a highly educated and informed society, which is what many neutral observers believe to be the case, is wrong. Therefore, US citizens easily buy into the idea of Australia propagated by the Outback steakhouse restaurants because they are none the wiser. However, if the popularity of the restaurants is anything to go by, then the idea (if not the service and food/drinks offered in the restaurants) seems to sit well with Americans.
Customer Experience as an Important Factor
Additionally, the author has overlooked the concept of customer experience in her criticism of the mythical and inaccurate depiction of Australia as done by the Outback steakhouse restaurants. Although many first time clients of Outback steakhouse restaurants may be pulled by the restaurants’ promise of delivering the ultimate Australian experience, future visits back to the restaurants will depend solely on the customer’s experience, which goes beyond the mere desire for a foreign and mythical experience.
Customer service, pricing, and other such unrelated but ultimately decisive factors play a monumental role in retaining customers (Ching-Shu 430). Indeed, even if the restaurant were to offer real Australian food, employ only Australian nationals, sell only Australian beer, and even build its restaurants in Australian architectural design, if the customer service were poor, the customers would unlikely return.
Therefore, the popularity of the Outback steakhouse restaurants goes beyond the mere fact that they promise an exotic (Australian) experience, it most likely has to do with the restaurants ability to serve customers in a professional and hospitable manner. Similarly, if the restaurants were to be accurate in their portrayal of the Australian experience, yet charge exorbitant prices for their service, they would unlikely attract more customers.
Conclusion
Therefore, in conclusion, the popularity of the Outback steakhouse restaurants in the US goes beyond the mere fact that these restaurants purport to deliver an Australian experience for their clients. Their popularity has to do with sound business practices geared towards profit maximization, powerful advertising that captures a susceptible client base, and a comprehensive customer experience that makes clients return for the same.
Works Cited
Ching-Shu, Su. “The role of service innovation and customer experience in ethnic restaurants.” Service Industries Journal 31.3 (2011): 425-440.
Niemi, Richard, and Michael Hanmer. “Voter Turnout among College Students: New Data and a Rethinking of Traditional Theories.” Social Science Quarterly (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 91.2 (2010): 301-323.
Soederberg, Susanne. “Taming Corporations or Buttressing Market-Led Development? A Critical Assessment of the Global Compact.” Globalizations 4.4 (2007): 500-513.